UNE to celebrate students’ success

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UNE to celebrate students’ success

Two colourful ceremonies at UNE this week, presided over by the Chancellor, Richard Torbay, will celebrate the graduation of more than 1,000 people from the University.

Two colourful ceremonies at the University of New England this week, presided over by the Chancellor, Richard Torbay, will celebrate the graduation of more than 1,000 people from the University.

Mr Torbay will present testamurs marking their graduation to those – numbering about 400 – who are able to attend the ceremonies on Friday 28 and Saturday 29 September.

The well-known human rights lawyer Father Frank Brennan SJ AO will present the Occasional Address at the ceremony on Friday for those graduating from within the Faculty of The Professions. Father Frank was the founding director of Uniya, the Australian Jesuit Social Justice Centre, and was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia for his services to Aboriginal Australians – particularly in the areas of law, social justice and reconciliation. He is a Professor of Law at the Australian Catholic University.

At the ceremony on Saturday, for those graduating from within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Occasional Address speaker will be Dr John Hammett, a prominent physician and Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians who now runs cattle on a property at Wollomombi, near Armidale. In addition to his distinguished career in medicine, Dr Hammett has achieved success as a competitor in campdrafts and working dog trials, and as a computer programmer. The subject of his talk will be “Choices”.

Organisers are expecting the graduation ceremonies to bring as many as 2,000 people – including the graduands themselves and their friends and relatives – on to the UNE campus over the two days. The ceremonies, to be held on the lawns of “Booloominbah”, will move into Lazenby Hall in the event of wet weather. They will both begin at 10.30 am.

The University of New England respects and acknowledges that its people, programs and facilities are built on land, and surrounded by a sense of belonging, both ancient and contemporary, of the world's oldest living culture. In doing so, UNE values and respects Indigenous knowledge systems as a vital part of the knowledge capital of Australia.